


Thanksgiving sucks (sometimes)

by dyingpoet



Category: Dead Poets Society (1989)
Genre: Drunken Confessions, Drunkenness, M/M, Male Bonding, Pining, i ship charlie and meeks w a passion so i slipped that in there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-29
Updated: 2018-03-29
Packaged: 2019-04-14 09:02:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14132730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dyingpoet/pseuds/dyingpoet
Summary: Only two boys from the senior class stay back for Thanksgiving break this year





	Thanksgiving sucks (sometimes)

**Author's Note:**

> So none of y'all probably care but I've been having a shitty ole time (gayness, old fights drudged up, Depression) and haven't had the motivation to write!!
> 
> But I deleted this months ago and decided to post it in the hopes that it would give me the motivation to write again. Enjoy!!

Neil had left about an hour ago and Todd felt boredom sinking in as each minute passed. If he was being completely honest he really didn't know how he was going to get through a week of this.

It was the first day of Thanksgiving break and pretty much everyone had gone home to visit their families for the holiday. Todd had opted out, calling his mother and making up an excuse about being sick and having a lot of work to catch up on anyway. She accepted this a lot faster than Todd would have liked, but took it nonetheless, and Todd got to stay at Welton over the holiday.

Predictably, there wasn't much to do, he assumed all the other guys had gone home, but he might be able to catch up on some sleep and write a bit. He never really liked Thanksgiving all that much anyways, at home his parents were usually too focused on his brother to hear much of what he had to say, so he usually ended up leaving dinner early to read in his room.

It sucked really. At least here it sucked quietly. 

He was trying to write a poem they needed to have ready the day they got back, and it wasn’t going well. He’d  spent a good fifteen minutes trying to think of a synonym for ‘frayed’ before giving up, tossing his notebook on the bed beside him.

Finally closing his eyes and laying back, Todd let the weeks of exhaustion and stress wash over him, lulling him to sleep. If he could sleep the whole vacation he would, he needed it, homework and studying usually kept him up well into the night, and sleeping during class here wasn’t really an option.

Sleeping was one of the few times where he was in a state of complete relaxation, not anxious or stressed about anything, just calm. So, he let his mind shut off and body let go of the tension it had been carrying around for weeks, and fell asleep.

He actually managed to get a good ten minutes of dreaming before a loud bang woke him up, followed by someone flopping onto his bed and crushing his legs.

“I’m bored Todd.”

Groaning, Todd sat up rubbing at his eyes and seeing Charlie Dalton dramatically sprawled on his bed, hand over his eyes.

“I didn’t know y-you were staying over break, Charlie,” Todd said, slightly uncomfortable. He and Charlie had never been that close, they were both friends with Neil but never talked or hung out one on one, so this was rather new.

“Yes, my parents went on vacation so I’m staying,” he said, pulling his hand away from his eyes and looking at Todd, “What about you?”

“Didn’t feel like going back, not much different there from here,” Todd said softly, making as little eye contact with Charlie as possible. Charlie on the other hand hadn’t taken his eyes off of Todd’s, tilting his head.

“So both of our parents clearly suck my friend,” Charlie said, sitting up and taking out a cigarette and matchbox from his pocket. At Todd’s confused look, he said, “Don’t worry, all the teachers stay in their rooms or go home, no one’s gonna be walking by.”

Todd nodded, slowly reaching for his notebook, which lay by Charlie’s side. Charlie lit his cigarette eyes flicking to the notebook and snatching it quickly, smiling and opening up to Todd’s recent poem.

“Charlie, it’s not done, c’mon-” Todd started, cut off by Charlie’s growing smile and raised hand that stopped Todd from continuing.

“Shhh, it’s good, no wonder Neil always raves about your poems.”

Todd blushed to his scalp, starting to stutter something out before he saw Charlie smirking and glancing up at him through his eyelashes. “You liar,” Todd snapped, throwing his pillow and hitting a now laughing Charlie in the face.

“Y-You really need to make a move Todd, Jesus you should have seen your face,” Charlie laughed, trying to gain back some composure while Todd grabbed his notebook back and glared at him, still blushing.

“Shut up Charlie,” he said, getting smoke blown in his face in response.

Charlie grinned lazily, putting out his cigarette on the bedframe and tossing the but in their garbage can. “Wish I could Todd.” Placing his arms behind his head Charlie started humming, leaving Todd somewhat uncomfortably fiddling with the sleeves of his hoodie.

Charlie gasped suddenly, after a few more minutes of humming, and Todd almost jumped out of skin at the sudden noise.

“Todd I just realized something,” Charlie said, sitting back up and staring at Todd excitedly.

“Christ, what Charlie?” Todd asked, letting out a breath and raking a hand through his hair.

“We’re going to be alone all week.”

“You  _ just  _ realized that?”

Charlie nodded and smiled, getting up and reaching a hand to help Todd, “C’mon, I gotta show you something.”

Todd accepted the hand and stood up, immediately finding himself dragged out of his room and across the hall to Charlie’s.

“Shut the door,” Charlie said, going over to his bed and rummaging underneath it.

Todd complied reluctantly, turning to watch Charlie, who was almost completely under the bed. Standing in silence, Todd watched as Charlie finally emerged, standing up with a smile and a bottle in hand.

“No.”

“  _ Todd  _ , come  _ on  _ .”

“Charlie we’re gonna get caught and expelled.”

“I’ve done this before,” Charlie said with an eye roll, opening the bottle of whiskey and inhaling deeply. “You know what that smells like? A good time, that’s what.”

Todd walked over, “I’ve never been drunk before.”

“  _ What?  _ ” Charlie yelped, looking up at Todd with what some, not Todd, might say was a rather comical look of horror. “You’re joking right?”

Shrugging, Todd responded, “No, never really wanted to I guess.”

If he wasn’t so on edge Todd could have laughed at the look Charlie gave him then. “Well tonight will be a fun night for you then won’t it?” he said, screwing the cap back on and sliding the bottle back under the bed. Todd tried to protests but his heart wasn’t really in it, as long as they didn’t get caught it might be fun, better than staring at the wall and going to bed at nine.

“Wait,” Todd said, “You said you did this before, with who?”

Grinning, and Todd could have sworn he saw the ghost of a blush dust his cheeks, Charlie said, “Meeks, last fall.”

“Really?” Todd asked, raising his eyebrows, “Doesn’t seem like his thing.”

“You’d be surprised,” Charlie said vaguely, gesturing toward the other bed in the room, “Sit down Anderson, make yourself at home.”

Todd nodded, walking over to the bed stiltedly and sitting down, legs out in front of him and back against the wall. Charlie’s eyes following him was sort of unnerving, and he squirmed a bit uncomfortably.

“So what’s your deal?” Charlie asked suddenly, sounding light but genuine at the same time.

“What do you mean?” Todd asked, he knew what he meant, but he really didn’t want to get into it with Charlie right now, that probably wouldn’t make much of a difference though.

“You know what I mean, you don’t like talking, like Keating said that time,” Charlie said, tilting his head a bit, a habit Todd noticed, not looking like he’d let Todd off the hook until he answered.

“I don’t know, I just don’t like it,” Todd said slowly, choosing his words carefully.

“Yeah, I  _ get  _ that,” Charlie said, noticing Todd flinch a bit and lowering his voice, “But why, you talk okay with Neil now, and Meeks sometimes, why is that?”

Todd bit his lip, looking up at Charlie before bringing his gaze back down, “I know them better I guess- I don’t know really - it’s easier.”

He glanced up again to see Charlie nod, looking satisfied enough, for now, “That makes sense I guess,” he smirked a bit then, “But hey, we have a whole week of bonding Todd.”

Todd laughed a bit nervously, nodding. Barely noticing when Charlie walked over to the bed, his eyes were so focused on  _ not  _ looking at Charlie that when he laid down next to him on his stomach. “We’re gonna get  _ drunk  _ and  _ bond  _ and it’ll be  _ great  _ .”

Todd felt the knot in his stomach loosen a bit, Charlie seemed genuinely excited to do something with him, so he couldn’t really complain.

“Fine,” Todd said, looking at his watch, “But can we eat first? I skipped lunch.”

“I like how you think Todd, I’m always hungry,” Charlie said, getting up and walking toward the door, closely followed by Todd. “We better eat a lot, gotta get ready for  _ tonight  _ .”

Todd laughed again, more genuine this time, and nodded, following Charlie down to the cafeteria.

* * *

Dinner passed, it was just them, a couple of younger kids and a few teachers. Tomorrow was Thanksgiving so they were saving most of the good food for then, giving them meatloaf from the night before, which both Todd and Charlie wolfed down.

They were back in Charlie’s room now, Nolan had come and checked on the both of them, looking at them for a moment before giving them a begrudging ‘goodnight’ even though it was barely eight.

“See? He’s not gonna come back for the rest of the night, we’re fine,” Charlie said, having waited a good five minutes before getting the whiskey back out from under his bed.

“I guess,” Todd said, unsure.

Charlie sat down with his back pressed against the bedframe, taking a long sip out of the bottle before passing it to Todd, who had sat down beside him. “It tastes like shit so just don’t let it hit the back of your throat.”

Gingerly, Todd lifted the bottle up, sniffing it and recoiling, getting a laugh from Charlie. Cheeks burning with embarrassment Todd took a gulp, trying to follow Charlie’s advice, which was awful because it tasted like he swallowed jet fuel.

He got it down though, coughing and screwing up his face, “That’s fucking awful.”

“I’ve never heard you swear before!” Charlie gasped, smiling and kicking Todd’s side a bit, “We’re making progress!”

Todd rolled his eyes, forcing himself to take another sip because it didn’t look like Charlie wanted it back, “That’s because you’re trying to poison me,  _ fuck  _ .”

He felt Charlie grab the bottle out of his hands as he close his eyes, waiting for the taste to leave his mouth. He felt the alcohol hit his stomach, like a match had been lit inside of him, his whole throat and stomach was  _ burning  _ .

“It doesn’t taste so bad after a while,” Charlie said, having taken another swig himself, “You’ll start to feel it soon, it’s nice.”

Todd did start to feel it. It was sort of like having your head stuffed with cotton, his face started to get warm and the room felt, fluid? If that made any sense, which he was one hundred percent sure didn’t. “I can’t believe Meeks did this with you,” he said, the words feeling sluggish in his mouth.

“Yeah, well, Meeks has done a lot of stuff with me,” Charlie said, giggling a bit as he took another sip and passed the bottle back to Todd, who was staring at him with wide eyes.

“Meeks is gay? Damn, I didn’t know,” Todd said, now enjoying the feeling of warmth that the alcohol filled him with after each sip. The room went from feeling fluid to shaky, he really got now why walking in a straight line was a drunkenness test, he sure as hell would fail right now.

“Yeah he is, can’t talk about that stuff much here, I’m bi, by the way,” Charlie offered, leaning forward a playing with the laces on Todd’s shoes absentmindedly. “Knox is obviously straight, I don’t know about Pitts or Cameron though.”

Feeling a bit bolder, and significantly more loose, Todd asked, “Neil’s gay right? I’m bi too and I have literally no idea.” Although the whiskey gave him some confidence he still couldn’t meet Charlie’s eyes when he asked.

Snorting loudly Charlie scooted over so that he was directly in front of Todd, grabbing his shoulders as Todd sipped on the whiskey anxiously. “Todd, listen to me, Neil is so fucking gay he makes me look like Knox.” He burst out laughing then, leaning forward so that his head was against Todd’s chest, who had began laughing as well.

“Todd, he flirts with you so hard, you’re both so fucking oblivious, Jesus  _ Christ  _ .”

Charlie fell forward a bit too fast after he said that, gripping Todd for balance and sending them both falling sideways, landing nose to nose, in the middle of a laughing fit.

“I-I wish we could get together,” Todd said, wiping a tear from his eye as they both calmed down, taking a deep breathe and watching as the walls seemed to move slightly.

“Go for it then!” Charlie said, kicking Todd’s shin and maintaining eye contact with him for probably the first time that whole semester, “Carpe that fucking diem.”

Todd laughed at that significantly harder than he normally would have, finding everything infinitely funnier when he was like this. “Maybe Charlie, when he gets back, it’ll be romantic as fuck,” he said, giggling and burying his head in Charlie’s shirt.

“Good, finally, the sexual tension between you too has been killing all of us,” Charlie said, smirking crookedly when Todd’s head snapped back up.

“I know! I thought I felt that!” he said, sitting up and trying to reach for the whiskey again when Charlie got to it first. He had been right, he really wanted more now that he got started, he wanted to feel more of this, this was fucking  _ great  _ .

“Nu-uh, ‘m not dealing with your hangover tomorrow,” Charlie said, standing and swaying for a moment before putting the bottle behind his dresser, grabbing a bottle of water and tossing it at Todd. It was a shitty throw and Todd was pretty drunk so it missed, hitting Todd in the chest and instigating another laughing fit.

“Shhhh, you’re being too loud,” Charlie said, sitting back down and watching Todd chug about half the water, grabbing it for himself and finishing it off.

“We should play a game,” Todd said suddenly, sitting up and almost hitting Charlie in the face with how far he reeled forward, the room sort of swimming around him now, “Truth or dare! ‘S the best game I love it.”

“Oohh shit yea, fuck okay I’ll ask first,” Charlie said, quickly grabbing the blanket off his bed and wrapping it around himself, “Truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

“Okay, why don’t you talk to any of us?” Charlie asked, pleased with himself whe Todd frowned, “Yeah, I didn’t let that shit go.”

“No fairr,” Todd slurred, putting his head in his hands and trying to think of an answer, all of his thought were swimming right now.

“That’s the game buddy,” Charlie said.

“Fine, uh, I don’t like talking ‘cause nobody cares when I do anyways,” Todd said, looking up and Charlie and yawning, finding that verbalizing his deepest insecurity wasn’t so hard when you started seeing double.

“Fuckin’  _ bullshit  _ ,” Charlie said, gripping Todd’s shoulders again, “Todd, like just  _ Todd  _ , you did that poem thing with Keating and it was so  _ fucking cool  _ , we all like you man.”

Todd shoved Charlie’s chest lightly, smiling lazily, “Thanks Charliee.”

“‘M goin’ to bed,” Charlie said, nodding, both of them forgetting that they were even playing a game, the last hour or so was a fuzzy haze and Todd was so  _ tired  _ all the sudden.

Yawning, he stood up shakily, flopping down onto the bed opposite Charlie’s feeling sort of sick and dizzy, with his eyes closed he could feel the room moving around him.

“G’night Charliee,” he mumbled, burying his head in the pillow and gripping it tightly.

“‘Night.”

He had no idea where the border between sleep and wakefulness began, but after about two minutes with his eyes closed he knew he crossed it, falling into a deep sleep.

* * *

A loud bell woke Todd up, ringing for a few more seconds before stopping, it was breakfast he assumed. He was really uncomfortable, he had slept without a blanket in his shoes, and he had a kink in his neck that was killing him. Lifting his head, he squinted as his eyes adjusted to the light, quickly widening when he caught sight of the clock, it was almost eleven, he never slept past eight, even at home.

"Todd?" a voice, Charlie's, called sleepily from across the room.

"Yeah?" he asked, swinging his fee over the side of the bed and cracking his back, "It's almost eleven Charlie, we missed breakfast."

"I'll go down to the kitchen for us later," Charlie mumbled stuffing his head back into the pillow, hair sticking out in all directions. 

Todd nodded, standing up and immediately swaying to the side, ridiculously off balance. He got his bearing and started for the door, stopping with his hand on the doorknob when Charlie called, "Happy Thanksgiving Anderson."

"Same to you Dalton."

**Author's Note:**

> Again this was lazy as hell and sucked but lemme know if y'all enjoyed regardless


End file.
